Consumer organisation Which? has mooted that the Right To Repair legislation in the UK is too weak and that more needs to be done, we’d agree.
You can find the full article by Which? here. And it’s great to see these issues getting some much needed attention.
In large part we would agree with much of what is said however there are a number of things that need to be said and the first is, a lot of appliances are too cheap that in turn means, they’re not worth the cost of full blown professional repair.
In short, the low cost of these appliances effectively makes them throwaway products unless you repair it for yourself.
It’s also important to understand, for buyers at any rate, that these low cost machines will almost certainly not be as durable either.
Spare Parts Cost
Which? does get into the seemingly high cost of spare parts and, they are quite correct to highlight that but when you take into account the low cost of many appliances the spare part prices will often seem to be disproportionately expensive.
A bigger and more immediate problem, in our opinion, is the use of “assemblies” where in order to replace a seemingly minor spare part you are required to replace a much larger and, way more expensive pre-built assembly rather than just the part that’s broken.
We’re thinking on sealed tanks (rather than bearings), complete dishwasher baskets (rather than just wheels), foamed in door gaskets on fridge freezers and so on, there are many examples of this that, as we understand it, reduce production costs so the retail price of the appliance is a bit lower but, if these things break often make the appliance not worth repairing. Beyond economical repair (BER) as we call it.
Spare Parts Availability
Another post raised and one we would agree with, to a degree.
There are some manufacturers or brands that will not bother with parts at all, a number that will restrict who can or can’t buy them and some that will control what information you can access on parts. A great number won’t allow any access to technical information for repairs.
There can be a good number of barriers that hampers or even completely kills the notion of repair rather than replacement.
Of course there are quite a few makers that are not like that and will offer all you need without any issue and, if they can do it, they all can.
Weak Law
Which? thinks the legislation is too weak and makes pains to point this out. They’re not wrong.
How that this is addressed is open to debate and there have been many suggestions over the years such as VAT free or reduced repairs by AMDEA and others to make repair a more financially attractive option but, no magic bullet to cure the problems.
Service issues have a complex set of problems in a mature market dominated by immense multi-national companies and increasingly they all have their own mammoth service and spares operations to sustain.
That said, we’ve been over these coals many times over the years, it’s topics we’ve been droning on about for decades and trying to offer potential solutions. As we said, there’s no magic bullet to cure all ills here, only incremental changes you can make to improve and encourage more repairs and less waste.
Who knows though, perhaps this topic being put in front of legislators will make them think about it, think about the waste, think about the costs to consumers and then do something meaningful about it all.
